Online Trading for the Placement of Advertising in Media

1. A method of conducting online trading for the placement of an advertisement in a medium or media, said method comprising: (a) conducting an online session with an advertiser to form an auction ticket of specifications for the placement of the advertisement; (b) notifying one or more media outlets of said ticket of specifications for said advertisement; (c) recording bids submitted by said media outlets for placement of said advertisement, wherein said bids are submitted in non-monetary units; (d) notifying said advertiser of said bids; and (e) allowing said advertiser to accept or reject one or more of said bids based on the advertiser's subjective criteria.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein said ticket of specifications specifies at least the price of the advertisement.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein said ticket of specification further specifies one or more members of the group consisting of: date or dates the advertisement is to run, number of placements, color preference, position on a page, position within the media and the media outlets who are to be notified by step (b).

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein said bids include one or more members of the group consisting of advertising space, time duration, position on a page, position on a screen, position on a web page and position within the media.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein step (a) further comprises: (i) recording said specification by presenting one or more input/output interfaces for entry of a plurality of data elements that form said specification; and (ii) identifying said one or more media outlets from media outlet selections provided by said advertiser.

6. A computer system that conducts online trading for the placement of an advertisement in a medium or media, said system comprising: online session means for conducting a session with an advertiser to form an auction ticket of specifications for said advertisement; communication means for notifying one or more media outlets of said ticket of specifications for said advertisement; means for recording bids submitted by said media outlets for placement of said advertisement, wherein said bids are submitted in non-monetary units; means for notifying said advertiser of said bids; and means for notifying said media outlets of said advertisers rejection or acceptance of said bids.

7. The computer system of claim 6 , wherein said ticket of specifications specifies at least the price of the advertisement.

8. The computer system of claim 7 , wherein said ticket of specification further specifies one or more members of the group consisting of: date or dates the advertisement is to run, number of placements, color preference, position on a page, position within the media and the media outlets who are to be notified by the communication means.

9. The computer system of claim 6 , wherein said bids include one or more members of the group consisting of advertising space, time duration, position on a page, position on a screen, position on a web page and position within the media.

10. The computer system of claim 6 , wherein online session means further comprises: means for identifying said specification by presenting one or more screens for entry of a plurality of data elements that form said specification, wherein said identifying means also identifies said one or more media outlets from media outlet selections provided by said advertiser.

11. A computer system that conducts online trading for the placement of an advertisement in a medium or media, said system comprising: online session module for conducting a session with an advertiser to form an auction ticket of specifications for said advertisement; communication module for notifying one or more media outlets of said ticket of specifications for said advertisement; a module for recording bids submitted by said media outlets for placement of said advertisement, wherein said bids are submitted in non-monetary units; a module for notifying said advertiser of said bids; and a module for notifying said media outlets of said advertisers rejection or acceptance of said bids.